Pediatric Oncology

Childhood cancer was almost always fatal before 1970. Despite the fact that pediatric cancers account for only a small p- centage of the total cancer burden, more effective therapies are needed to improve mortality rates in children. Anderson Cancer Center has been caring for children with c- cer since its doors opened over 60 years ago. Innovative research conducted over the past 4 decades has resulted in important advances in the clinical management of cancer in children and adolescents. Overall, the 5-year survival rate for all childhood cancers is 70%. The Pediatric Oncology faculty at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, who in 2004 alone saw 500 new pediatric patients, is recognized as a leader in developing improved diagnostic, therapeutic, and supportive-care protocols specifically for children and adolescents. This work is valuable, because the clinicians’ approach to managing leukemia; lymphoma; brain, soft tissue, and bone tumors; and other malignancies in pediatric patients must take into consideration the unique pathology of these diseases in this population. M. D. Anderson has introduced several new anticancer agents and supportive-care strategies that are now used throughout the country in the care of young people with cancer. This book is the first published account of the policies used at M. D. Anderson in the clinical management of pediatric patients with cancer. It presents the guidelines practiced at the institution in the multimodality treatment of the most common childhood cancers and describes the institution’s extraordinary Adolescent and Young Adult Program, a national model for cancer care in these select age groups. As in previous volumes of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Care Series, each chapter ends with a list of suggested readings and key practice points. The latter provides an at-a-glance summary of the important principles of pediatric Pediatric oncology Oncology clinical practice. This thorough, practical volume is an essential guide for oncologists, pediatricians, surgeons, and other health care providers who treat children and adolescents with cancer.